Poetry Posts

Dog carrying driftwood on a beach

Putting the Dog Down

by Kimberly Nunes Though it meant deaththe van pulled up in luminous sunthough it meant death—carried to sand, her final ocean whiffkind eyes on us, haunches stilled,a big heart too large, and all this beauty—though it meant death

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Pond surrounded by trees and a grassy field

Pipedream : County Hwy F36, Newton, Iowa

by James Maynard We lingered four thousand nights beneath an unmoving sky.Rut and root and bark. Fruit bursting from our limbs.And without speech we swayed, a system writtenFor the choirs of leaf we named the shattering.As the afternoon’s white yellow split into blue.As beneath the shards he sang his dark…

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Close-up shot of a line on a sports field

On the Pitch of Life

by Ali Ashhar On a freezing winter nightwhile watching premier league on televisiondad tells me he used to leadhis college team,we sip coffee togetherit has been a whilesince dad has seen his college pals.He narrates me an instanceas he reminisce his dynamic personalityon the field,in the meanwhile Chelsea scoresand dad…

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Pile of cassette tapes

Four Octaves for Cyd Charisse

by James Maynard 1/Particular, with a forty-second street skimmerPendant on the toe of your stilettoWhich lifts, emerald, into the carcinogenic heavenAbove Gene Kelly’s eyes. Yet when you moveCosmic — world & form splashing into singularity.A figure turning a figure, turning.What is seen then not seen, a flash of the eternalThen…

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Close-up of a black snake

Black Snake Wound

by Dee Allen The old Lakota prophesyHas come to passIn our lifetime.As any creatureBound to the land would,A long black snakeSlithers over turf,Then travels underground.Below, it steadlily travelsAnd along the way,It gets woundedBy anything, even byPouring torrential rainsFalling like a guillotine blade,And slowly bleedsOunces of visceraSlick, thick andDeepest of black.Nearby…

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School of fish under the ocean

A Poem is an Ocean (after Charles Bukowski)

by Amanda Valerie Judd a poem is an ocean full of depths and reefsfilled with sharks and sailors and seaweedfilled with plastic and whale spermwhipping up a tidal wave and a hurricanea poem is an ocean working for industriesa poem is an ocean losing its relevance as a living thinga…

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Person holding an amethyst stone

I Traded My Heart

by Laine Derr I traded my heartfor an amethyst – Gifted it to a girlwho sits in the sun. She touchesmy smile, w/ lips rubbed smoothby winter rain. Hands holdinga stone beating my love, shiningdays of pale purple. I traded my heartfor lilac, for her.

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Silhouette of trees and mountains against a sky full of stars

You in Space

by Leila Farjami After you walkor fly awayfrom your body,a long winter takes hold,with its slumped oaksand graying sun. From your windowinside an empty house,I could watch the garden for days.From above, your eyesmight watch me. Our words to each otherwill be breathwoven into the airoutside of time.My language will…

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Woman lying in bed

When My Eyes Have Turned Gray

by Roxanne Finniss It starts at night,when my mind has fallen asleep,leaving me defenseless.The trauma of the blade,thick in width and sharpened to a point,causes bruises underneath my eyes.Why don’t you ever brush your teeth?My fiancé said the other day to mewhen I was laying in my bed all comfy.I…

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Plants sprouting up between cobblestones

Usher Me In

by Hibah Shabkhez Usher me in, whispers chaos, grinningWickedly. The earth rails at the grey squaresOf concrete bordered with red lines of brickUpon which you are grotesquely wobblingIn the aimless revolt of youth that caresFor order, and ashamed of it, is quickAnd ferocious in calling for endings – Usher me…

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